Happy Birthday Dear Henry!

The National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) is working with The
National Singing Programme, Sing Up, to celebrate the 350th anniversary
of Henry Purcell - one of England's finest composers - in a series of
celebrations across England starting in Bury St Edmunds in May and
concluding at the Music for Youth Schools Proms at the Royal Albert
Hall in November.

Funded by a grant of £45,000 from Sing Up to
the NCEM, the celebrations start with a collaborative education project
joining together professional singers from The Sixteen and young people
from four Cathedral Cities with music leaders from the Choir Schools'
Association.

The project - which is led by members of the
internationally acclaimed vocal group The Sixteen - will involve over
600 young people aged between 8 and 11 years in performances designed
to celebrate the life of Henry Purcell. This piece - which is
structured around the life of Henry Purcell - will then be staged by
The Sixteen and the young people in a series of matinee performances in
St Edmundsbury (9 May), Liverpool Metropolitan (5 June) and Lichfield
Cathedrals (16 July) and Southwell Minster (19 June).

Harry
Christophers, Conductor and Founder of The Sixteen, says: "We are
thrilled to be a part of this project. The Sixteen has been working for
several years in education work and is constantly looking to expand the
scope of its activity in this area. This is the first time we have been
associated with something quite on this scale and, indeed, more
importantly with such young children. We are delighted to have the
opportunity to work with so many people from this age range and
introduce them in an exciting way to the music of our heritage."

Delma
Tomlin, Director of the NCEM was very pleased that the Centre had been
able to initiate such a hugely significant project. "Working with The
Sixteen in Cathedral cities across England will give many young people
the chance to learn about early music and the joy of singing as well as
offering them an extra-ordinary opportunity to share the same stage as
The Sixteen and their world famous director Harry Christophers.

"The
educational project has been developed by Dr Cathryn Dew, the NCEM's
Educational Consultant, to reflect the history, music and sense of the
drama of the period and is strongly linked to the National Curriculum.
Songs in the performance piece include London's Burning - reminding the
young people of the Fire of London in 1666, Ring a Ring a Roses to
bring reference to the Plague which was still raging through London in
the 17th century and some of Purcell's most famous pieces including the
ever cheerful Come Ye Songs of Art.

"The project has allowed
us to join forces with many music professionals to pass on a tremendous
amount of knowledge and skill to young people as well and has truly put
early music on the national platform."

Sing Up regards this as a
key project for their programme. Baz Chapman, Programme Director, added
"We are excited to be working on this project with The Sixteen and the
NCEM. Sing Up is thriving on groundbreaking partnerships which result
in these exciting, high-quality projects."

The NCEM and Sing Up
will continue to celebrate the music of Purcell throughout the year. In
the autumn, they will be working with over 500 primary school children
from 11 schools in York to prepare a short piece to perform at this
year's Schools Proms at The Royal Albert Hall on 9 November 2009. The
piece, known as 'Ode on the 350th Birthday of Mr Henry Purcell' has
been especially commissioned from Cathedral composer Dr Richard
Shephard. The young peoples' choir will be directed by Susan
Hollingworth, musical director of the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior
Choir who won the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year in 2008.

In
addition to these venue based activities, the National Centre for Early
Music is developing a free on-line educational resource for Key Stage 2
teachers. The resource, which will be available from www.ncem.co.uk in May, will include special arrangements of Purcell's music for young voices and activity ideas for teachers.

Editor's Notes
Sing Up is
the Music Manifesto National Singing Programme, produced by Youth Music
with AMV-BBDO, Faber Music and The Sage Gateshead, supported by the
Government. www.singup.org.

The
National Centre for Early Music, based in York and funded by the Arts
Council England, is working to join people together in a national
celebration of Henry Purcell (1659-1995). www.ncem.co.uk

The
Sixteen founded by Harry Christophers celebrates its 30th anniversary
this year and is recognised as one of the world's finest choral groups.
Associate Artists at the Southbank Centre, they are also the Voices of
Classic FM and recently featured in the acclaimed BBC Four series
Sacred Music. Their current performing schedule includes a 27-concert
Choral Pilgrimage to the cathedrals and abbeys of Britain performing
the music of James MacMillan, Purcell and Handel.

Since 2001
The Sixteen has been building its own record label, CORO, which will
release its 76th disc in 2009. Recent recordings include Handel's
Coronation Anthems and 'Bright Orb of Harmony'(music by Purcell and
MacMillan) which accompanies the 2009 Choral Pilgrimage, Fauré's
Requiem with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Handel's
celebrated oratorio, Messiah, with an all-star soloist line-up: Carolyn
Sampson, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mark Padmore and Christopher Purves,
which was awarded the prestigious MIDEM Classical Award 2009. www.thesixteen.com